The Sweeper: The Marquee Player and the Designated Player in Australia and America

It’s a good idea for fans of young leagues in countries where soccer is not the number one sport to keep an eye on each other’s progress and ideas. Perhaps more than aping long-established leagues where soccer is a sunk in part of a country’s culture, those like myself who want Major League Soccer to grow could do worse than look at the developments in Australia’s A-League, for example: at both its successes and its failures.

The A-League launched in 2005 with a rule MLS would soon introduce under a different name as the Designated Player rule: in Australia, each club was allowed to sign one “Marquee Player” outside the salary cap.

“There is a wealth of Australian talent overseas with over 140 players currently playing in 15 of the top leagues in world football. Australian players are competing at a high level in Europe, Asia and America and what we have created is a viable option for these players to return to the Hyundai A-League and compete in what is becoming a very strong and competitive league.”

It would allow a club like Sydney FC to keep hold of Marquee Player Robbie Fowler while also signing a homegrown talent like Nicky Carle back from Britain, as has been the hot rumour for some time.

It’s also intended to increase the signing of high-profile foreigners as Marquee players, with some Australians currently designated as such moving to the local Marquee spot.

However, not all clubs will be thrilled about the new changes, given that several are struggling to stay afloat and cope with the rising financial pressures of competing in the competition.

The FFA will argue that the changes will create a surge of new interest, particularly if clubs are able to sign a player who enjoyed a prominent role at the World Cup.

The news comes as a timely shot in the arm for the A-League after a season of waning attendances – a period FFA chairman Frank Lowy described last year as a ”plateau” after four consecutive years of growth. Subsequent news of trouble at Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury has shown how tough some clubs are finding the marketplace.

Are these rules worth consideration for MLS to both assist clubs in retaining top domestic talent, whilst also allowing short term infusions of foreign buzz into the league? (Discuss, students!)

Quick Hits

Liverpool fans wonder if their plans were taken into consideration this week with UEFA’s decisions on games going ahead in the Europa League: “We (fans) are always the forgotten people in this but it’s nothing new,” said Garreth Cummins, a Liverpool fan and international officer at the Football Supporters Federation. “I can’t remember a single time when UEFA have made a decision and thought about the fans or at least overtly made some consideration to them,” he told Reuters.

Portsmouth might be riding high on the field to the FA Cup Final, but off the field, Soccernet says their financial situation is (somehow) even worse than feared, with the club in debt to the tune of “£119 million owed to various creditors – including astonishing amounts to agents.”

The Sweeper appears daily. For more rambling and links throughout the day every day, follow your editor Tom Dunmore @pitchinvasion on Twitter.

The Sweeper: The Marquee Player and the Designated Player in Australia and America

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COMMENTS- 8 -

April 20, 2010 at 7:46 amTim

I will argue that Australia will probably suffer a 6-7 year growing pain like MLS did when clubs had to be reduced and money was tight. If the A-League can survive that one instance, then I expect it to expand quickly. My main issue is that when I suffer insomnia and watch the A-League I see supporters that fill the ends, yet very little fans that fill the stands, is there any reason for this (aside from Australian Rules Football).

April 20, 2010 at 7:16 amBarry

Although I’d love to see Sydney FC (or any other A-League club) signing two top class players from overseas, the harsh reality is that no club bar perhaps Sydney or Melbourne will be able to sustain so financially. Wellington had it’s most successful season to date, yet they still suffered a massive loss (talking in the millions here) and they don’t even have a marquee player! Like the MLS, the idea of being able to sign to players outside the cap is great, but the difficult part is actually having the money to do so.

There have only ever been a handful of “marquee players” anyway in the 5 years the A-League has existed, so lifting a constraint that was never binding won’t do anything substantial for domestic Australian football.

Also, Ben Buckley and the FFA need to ask themselves how an Australian marquee spot is particularly useful given Perth Glory signed THREE Socceroos “stars” at the start of last season yet barely saw crowds increase, let alone their performances on the pitch.

More money in grassroots, more money spent on developing players, and actually allowing clubs a greater (how about fairer) slice of the FFA’s income it generates from A-League related activities, like finals series. Did you know that the complete entirety of income from gate receipts during “finals” games goes to the FFA, and not the clubs hosting the actual game?

April 20, 2010 at 7:52 amMicah

@Tim

I imagine most people in Oz, much like here in the States, don’t care much for soccer. Filled supporters sections and empty stands aren’t unheard of in MLS stadiums either.

April 20, 2010 at 9:22 amBarry

The ends are generally in proportion to the rest of the crowd. In fact some clubs really lack in terms of their home end numbers and vocals. I think the problems of the A-League are almost exactly, if not completely, the same as the MLS. Think of what holds the A-League back, and you’re most likely also brainstorming the problems of the MLS, such as:

– Lack of media attention (or, more in more sinister terms, deliberate agenda by the media to undermine the sport)
– Eurosnobs.
– Eurosnobs
– Eurosnobs.

April 21, 2010 at 3:43 amAdrian Ludbrook

The way I see it in both the ‘colonies’ (sorry, couldn’t resist!) is that your bastardised versions of ‘football’, NFL and AFL, have such a stranglehold on the media coupled with a huge resistance movement based on tradional supporters of NFL, AFL and NRL who see the up and coming ‘soccer’ leagues as a threat. In Oz I’ve even heard ‘soccer’ referred to as ‘wogball’, which I can only imagine refers to the game being for foreigners whilst ‘real’ Aussies chase rugby balls, odd shaped footballs, cricket balls and V8 supercars.

I’ve also spoken to Melbourne Victory supporters and understand the Australian authorities have followed the English model of oppresive policing and handing out banning orders left, right and centre. It seems leagues the world over are trying to adopt the EPL model of changing the matchday clientel from your traditional working class support to the middle classes. Luckily MLS seems to have remained a people’s league, and like the hugely succesful Bundesliga in Germany has adopted forward thinking policies like safe standing and relaxed attitudes towards supporters areas and above all affordable ticketing. The A League seems to have gone the other way, and fans are treated like animals much like here in the UK. If you drive out the vocal supporters you’ll end up with the silent bowls that now house English football week-in week-out. I know the A League has atracted some trouble, particularly the Melbourne / Sydney games, but this isn’t a problem unique to soccer in Australia, a country where even motorsport has crowd issues and Police applied alcohol restrictions on last year’s Bathurst event to ‘curb the violence between Ford and Holden supporters’.

I’d love to see both leagues grow and develop, talking to some Aussies in a bar in Malaysia last year they admitted that even though they didn’t like ‘soccer’ it was the global game and exposure to the sport was growing all the time. The EPL and the UEFA Champion’s League have been heroes and villains at the same time, they’ve given the global exposure the sport needed for a young lad growing up in LA, Seattle, Melbourne and even Wellington the desire to not only play football to but to have a real chance of making a professional career in the sport. The flip side is having been spoilt by the caviar football of Europe’s elite they’re not so happy to watch the lower standard of the game played in their own developing leagues. Malaysia is a key example, a football mad country with major investment in new stadia and a potentially excellent national league (Malaysian Super League) but only a couple of the teams get decent support, mainly in the KL Metro area. Meanwhile EPL and UEFA Champion’s League are shown 24 hours a day on local TV and even the most remote tinpot bar will have a TV showing a replay of yesterday’s EPL game with several locals huddled around.

I think FIFA need to push the growth of the Asian and American Champions League competitions to catch the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores putting the focus back on the local domestic sides, The A League in particular would have much to gain with strong leagues in Japan, Korea and the Arab states. That’s a harder one for MLS, Canada is already involved through MLS and only Mexico has a strong domestic league in that region, the Carribean countries being stronger at national rather than club level.

April 21, 2010 at 12:34 pmFootballMS

It is definate positive moves from the A league and one that is replicatable by other leagues.
It can only be beneficial to football if minor leagues produce young talent

April 22, 2010 at 6:02 amDaniel

For the reasons you have mentioned, as an Australian A-league fan I
Have become a regular of this site and seek MLS content across the web. I have also enjoyed many a Friday afternoon watching MLS matches on ESPN (Pacific Feed). I like MLS football but hate the commentators, but that is another topic.

I think if anything it is too early for A-League clubs to be looking at handing big bucks to bring players back to Australia or even trying to bring foreign stars to play. So many other directions the money should be going at this stage of development.
Five years in, clubs in debt or FFA support, sharing stadiums with other sports, youth systems and infrastructure not fully in action, this is no time to be paying for a players retirements. Especially in the modern game, many of these players after extended careers in Europe, I have no doubt enjoy a bigger bank balance than the clubs they will join.

It’s the MLS that is now at a stage to pursue stars. It has the corporate sponsorship opportunities to fully exploit a ‘Marquee’ (and lets not kind ourselves EPL) player, many teams with football specific or at least rectangular stadiums and is well established. Recent discussion about Red Bull Arena and New York on this site, NY has bring star to play written all over it! Its the obvious and sure fit for the city, that once boasted Beckenbauer and Pele.

From what I understand the US would not have the same number of players in Europe/Rest of the world as Australia does to have any benefit from the rule change. The 140 players mentioned in the article is made up of I would say 5-7 players with the stature to warrant the extra money for the return they could bring a club. The shocking thing is Australia has 3-4 teams of European standard players overseas. This manifests in the problem of squad depth that is so apparent in the A-League.

These rule changes have met with mixed response because the A-League is going through a once bitten, twice shy period with marquee players. They have not worked out in the most important place, the pitch.

April 22, 2010 at 8:06 pmAlberto Rosso

Given the atrocious marketing of the League by the FFA and most of the clubs Hyundai A-League crowds are respectable (especially when you look at them as a proportion of population).

Thankfully this appears to have been identified as a problem and is now being addressed, albeit tentatively.

AFL is really only huge in one populous state, Victoria whereas rugby league is dominant in two populous states, NSW and Queensland. However Victorians think they are at the centre of the known universe and therefore feel their code should be put on a pedestal above all others, a view which is studiously ignored north of the border. It is a fact tho’ that AFL gets amazing crowds year on year especially in Melbourne although it has to be said all sports (other than the rugbies) get their biggest crowds in Melbourne and even rugby tests and state of origin matches sell out down there. One feature of the AFL crowds is that a large proportion are women and even among the males the proportion who have played the game at any sort of serious level (even at school) is very small.

In Australia’s biggest market Sydney FC concentrated on selling themselves only to the wealthier eastern half of the sprawling city ignoring the western hinterland where all the people and football fans are. It is quicker and easier to get to Central Coast Mariner’s home games from western Sydney than it is to go the Sydney FC games at the Sydney Football Stadium.

When Sydney did play an AFC group game in the west they got a crowd of 10k despite the fact that the opponents were a team no one had ever heard of, and it was on a wet Tuesday night.

Thankfully the new Sydney Rovers franchise will be based in the west and the owners seem to have a clue or two about things.

Meanwhile the NRL (R. Murdoch, prop.) is in crisis with Melbourne Storm (R. Murdoch, prop.) finally being detected rorting the salary cap systematically for practically the whole time they have been in the League. How this got past the NRL’s and News’s; internal and external auditors for all this time remains to be explained as does why they decided to blow the whistle on it just now when it was an open secret for many years. This latter may be explainable when one considers that the Storm have been a financial disaster for News since the get go. The punishments meted out the Storm have rendered this season nugatory and the revelations may be a way of News being able to abandon their sorgenkind with some sore of respectability.